Fidel Castro Remained an Enemy To The End, President Obama Not Withstanding

With the passing of Cuban leader Fidel Castro many liberal thinkers including President Obama will call for a further rapprochement of American policies toward that island nation.

Until there is a liberalization of that totalitarian regime, the U.S. should not be giving any further signals to suggest it wants to normalize relations.

The last thing President-elect Donald Trump needs at this time is any more efforts to recognize a nation currently under despotic rule that is in desperate need of American goods and investments.

Nonetheless, if rumors are correct, President Obama is thinking of sending a high level official possibly Vice-President Biden to Castro’s funeral.

Neither this gesture, nor any other, should occur as long as Cuban totalitarian, Communist government still sullies human rights.

Many Cuban exiles are still angry and afraid for their island country. So too, should Americas fear a bulwark of anti-US feeling just 90 miles from its shores.

Interestingly, Trump is reported to have received support from a majority of Cuban-descendant voters in Florida, helping him to victory in that state. These voters are still in an anti-Castro mood more than 55 years after his ascendancy to leadership on the island.

What the liberal press refuses to recognize is the anti-Americanism of Castro.

Throughout his life, Castro always remained an avowed enemy of America and has demonstrated that belligerency in many ways while ruling as an absolute dictator.

He imposed a government of state planning that drove his island nation from being a rich productive enclave of free enterprise, to a nation of cracking walls, vintage cars, foreign debt, and oppressed people.

During his rule, Castro tried exporting his brand of anti-American Communism to Latin America, Africa, and even Asia. He also almost brought the world to an atomic war.

By trying to play a bigger role in the Cold-War, Castro nearly started World War III, permitting Russia to attempt installing nuclear missiles 90 miles from the U.S. Historians generally agree the 1962 Cuban Missile crisis was the closest to war America and Russia came during the last decades of the 20th century.

Throughout that same period, Castro allowed Cuban troops to be surrogates for Russia on four continents in return for oil, foreign exchange support, and other subsidies. Little told to American audiences during this period there were numerous armed conflicts between native troops aided by American advisors, throughout the world.

The toll on Cuban soldiers was large and still unwritten about in the U.S. press. Indeed, it is only in recent years that Cubans have come to acknowledge those losses.

While many people have heard of “Che” Guevara (Argentine Marxist revolutionary, who died in Bolivia), few know the story of Americans who fought and some died in these conflicts. Let us hope they did not die in vain protecting the world from Cuban mercenaries.

In such Latin and South American countries as Peru, Colombia, Chile, and Venezuela, Castro fermented armed revolution. In return he has received subsidies from among other countries hostile today to America as Venezuela and Russia.

Today, Cuba is no longer a helpmate to these countries, but rather an albatross. With the decline in oil prices and the anarchy rising in Venezuela, Cuba is finding itself increasingly isolated. World Bank analysis indicates the Cuban economy is not expanding, and that some collapse may occur should its foreign subsidies be curtailed.

Luckily for Castro, the misguided efforts by President Obama to normalize relations gave him a lifeline at the end of his rule. Now it will be up to President-elect Trump to decide the next American moves.

After almost 60 years of dictatorship, the Cuban people need a free society. Using Castro’s death as an opening won’t work unless there are stringent requirements from America. If this is done, both countries will prosper.

Donald P. Mazzella is a Political and Lifestyle Expert, who has been seen on MSNBC, Bloomberg and in WSJ (Wall Street Journal). He is COO of Information Strategies, Inc., a company that helps business managers improve profits. As a reporter, he has covered national and international events. He has held senior-level positions at McGraw-Hill, Thomson, and Essence Communications. Mr. Mazzella holds BA, MA and MBA degrees from NYU and has taught at that university as well as others. He has authored several books including his newest, “An American Family Sampler,” which is making plenty of waves throughout the publication sector.